by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
When student Bryan Deshayes came to UNM from Los Alamos in 2003, he didn't have a lot of friends.
He was at the gym when somebody asked him if he was interested in joining a fraternity. He thought it would be a good way to meet people.
Deshayes, the vice president of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, said he hasn't regretted joining.
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"If I hadn't joined a fraternity, I would have just focused on school and then gone out and partied sometimes," he said. "Being part of the Greek system has really broadened the scope of my experience at the University."
Deshayes said fraternities get a bad rap because of a few
problems.
Phi Delta Theta was suspended in August after it hazed a blind student.
A member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon was arrested Oct. 6 on charges of raping a female student at the fraternity's house.
Lambda Chi Alpha was suspended in 2005 after allegations that a female student was raped at the house.
Three of UNM's fraternities are suspended and one is on probation, said Randy Boeglin, dean of students.
No sororities are suspended or on probation, he said.
UNM has 11 fraternities, including two interest groups that are trying to start full-fledged fraternities, said Jonathan Gayer, Greek Life adviser.
Deshayes said the suspensions were caused by isolated problems.
"The Greek system as a whole has been doing a really good job," he said. "I think it's just a couple of bad events in a row that were just a coincidence."
A suspended fraternity can't operate in affiliation with the University. It can't use University space for events, use UNM's name or receive funding from the University.
Boeglin said inconsistent leadership in the fraternities causes the problems.
"I think the fraternities have really struggled with how to self-govern," he said. "When they have members whose behavior does not meet the very standards set by their organization or by the University, they really struggle with how to discipline and handle those members."
Boeglin said the good things fraternities do are more important than the actions that make headlines.
"They give flavor to the campus that would not be here if they weren't a part of us," he said. "They help define our institutional character. Most of the time that's positive, but there are certainly times when they give us public definition that we would want to be different."
Gayer said the Greek system's community involvement is important.
Fraternities and sororities raise $15,000 to $20,000 for charity per year, he said.
Greeks raised $10,000 during Greek Week in the spring.
Matt Houston, president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, said fraternity members are unfairly judged when their peers do something wrong.
"We do realize that we wear a target on our backs, and whenever we make a mistake, it will be magnified," he said.
He said problems with alcohol and sexual harassment are not unique to the Greek community.
"The same things that happen on Greek Row happen in the dorms all the time and at off-campus parties," he said. "In any group of people, you're always going to have that one bad apple."
Lt. Pat Davis, UNM Police spokesman, said the fraternities don't cause more problems than other students.
"I don't think it's disproportionate at all," he said. "Our officers haven't responded to any more calls on Greek Row than they have at the residence halls."
Boeglin said there will be problems any time there are a lot of students living in one place.
However, he said the University and the fraternities need to work to prevent problems.
"I think there are challenges for both groups," he said. "The challenge for the fraternity is defining their group and holding their members to those standards."
He said UNM needs to help the fraternities meet those standards.
"The institution needs to think about what we can do to get different outcomes than we've been having," he said.
Boeglin said he wants to start teaching fraternity members how to confront peers with drinking problems or other destructive behavior.
The program would not be mandatory, he said.
Gayer said he is excited about the program.
"If you can nip in the bud that someone had a little too much to drink one night, you can prevent a trip to the emergency room later," he said.
The technique won't be able to stop problems once they've started, he said.
"If you can figure out how to convince a college student not to do something at 2 a.m., you'd be able to solve a lot of problems on campus," he said.
Deshayes said the University should help fraternities instead of deriding them for the behavior of a few members.
"I think it's important that the UNM community supports the Greek system, because it's a part of the UNM family," he said. "It's like your own little brother or sister getting in trouble. You have to look out for them."
